Katie Couric's The Best Advice I Ever Got

Katie Couric's book The Best Advice I Ever Got reveals wisdom from everyone from Madeleine Albright to A-Rod—but let's start with three bits from the Glamour columnist herself:

Leave your comfort zone.

"I'll never forget what a producer from Today wrote me just after I announced my move to CBS: A boat is always safe in the harbor, but that's not what boats are for.' She's right: You have to get out of the harbor. The territory may be uncharted and the water choppy, but you'll be amazed at what you learn, especially about yourself."

You gotta have moxie.

"When you're going for a job or a promotion, I'm convinced the meek will not inherit the earth. Call it chutzpah, cojones or my dad's favorite, moxie—it's essential to success."

Some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

"The journalist Linda Ellerbee wrote that. I was the statue for two years, and it's not fun. From my first day at CBS, I was pounded for everything from the color of my jacket to the way I held my hands. Yet a voice inside me said, Keep going. You're in the big leagues. There will be better days ahead.' And there were!"

"My parents valued education, but when they saw the competitive and self-flagellating monster I was becoming, they adopted a mid-course correction. Take the C and live forever' became my father's refrain. Real life, as it turns out, is about messiness and, yes, failure."

"When I was feeling anxious about my life, playwright Eve Ensler told me, This is your life, your work, your family, your friends. All of these things are like plates of food in front of you, and you're getting so caught up in what's next, your food is getting cold. I say, eat it all up! It will sustain you.'"

"Take at least 20 minutes every day to be still and quiet. Reflect. Dissect your thoughts and feelings. Relive any mistakes from the day before. Decide how to be smarter and tougher, how to be more committed and considerate of others."

—Beyoncé, on learning from experienceMy grandmother always used to tell me, Nothing before its time,' which I didn't understand because I was far too impatient. But I now see that when you accept the fact that things will happen in their own time, it takes a lot of pressure off."